Saturday, November 23, 2013

In this electronic gizmo, " fits in your pocket " era, John Minnicks reaches into the past to revamp a classic film camera into an art piece that is getting quite a following.

What he wanted was a hand-held 4X5 camera, with some style, with a look…

So he started with the Graflex cameras. The only problem was they wouldn’t accept the 7” F:2.5 lens. The lens with the 3-D look, (the fastest 4X5) that could focus from 3’ to infinity… {The AERO-EKTAR lenses were used for aerial reconnaissance spy photography in World War II!}

Minnicks modified them to accept the lens by machining the camera. He makes custom-designed bellows, a new mirror-bright screen and a Graflock back, which will accept any 4X5 Polaroid back and roll film backs.

The lens board has a Tilt & Swing enabling
selective focus. The live image is 4X5 landscape, the short back focus of the lens and the precision size of the body to achieve infinity. Shutter speeds generally range from 1/500-1/30 sec.+ time exp.

Each camera body is unique and special, a bit different because each part is individually designed to suit the camera.

That amazing look is matched with the images achieved with the camera: a hand-held 4X5 with full control of the image.

Each one uses different materials and finishes: leathers, exotic leathers, metal finishes, choices of bellows and hood materials…

Prices depend on materials used: lenses, body and parts/materials.
A basic black leather runs about $3600.00, the Woodies run $6,000. Due to the amount of custom work and attention to detail and specially machined parts, he can only build a few a year. ( woodies ) - (Weather conditions affect finishes as well.)

For more information, contact us at: johnminnicks@gmail.com 203-247-3833

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Scissor Wings was created from a pair of scissors I have had for over 30 years, and inspired by a friend whom told me once to run with scissors so I did, and then I gave them wings. The technique used I call photosculpture, and each of my pieces can and will one day be fabricated. At this point they are only available on canvas with Giclée process.

The next piece is "Stairs" and was an image taken by one of my doctor's offices when I was quite sick.For more on my work, please visit: http://koogz.nethttp://facebook.com/artofkoogzhttp://koogz.see.me

The first photo ( 20120527-Guimaraes-07p&bq72dpix600.jpg ), was taken in a Art center in Guimarães city in the north of Portugal.The light caught my attention due to the light foggy day, and the lines textures were have given me a special atmosphere that I tried to capture.

The second ( 20130406-Elementos-01a72dpix600.jpg ), belongs to the same series I'm working on - series that I called "Elements" - which concerns architectural or engineering details. These one was taken in the access stairs of a public swimming. The detail that caught my attention was the small plant that was becoming to grow in the middle of those big concrete stairs and his resilience.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

My primary goal as a photographer is to make beautiful images, but to make that beauty both dynamic and fascinating. The union between the motion we live in and still photography which captures that motion seems to be the place where this “dynamic beauty” fuses. This series, “Ethereal Luminescence”, is a study of color abstraction, light and motion in the popular and active places where we find pleasure and exhilaration.

Technical notes: All of these photographs were made with a high resolution digital camera as single exposures with a technique, created by me, which I call camera painting. Only very minimum color corrections and cropping were made during post production. More of this work here and here.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

" A couple of years ago there seemed to be an ongoing debate about what "look" only film could produce, as opposed to anything digital. I decided to rework a group of photos from the last 30 years, done in virtually every format from 4 x 5 view camera color and b & w film, 2, 1/4 film, 35mm neg and chrome film, polaroid SX 70 filmand finally digital imagery, to give them and interesting cohesive look that you could not tell what image was made with what film or technique. Of course all of this was done digitally.

I don't anyone could determine what the original was made from in terms of format or material."

Saturday, September 14, 2013

At one time Braddock was a city of over 20,000 people, but the collapse of the steel industry and infusion of crack cocaine reduced it to a little over 2,000 inhabitants. However, this is not a place that has given up. A strong mayor and the determination of the people are starting to pay off, though there is a very long road ahead.

The Braddock Project - Part 1 is the beginning of a project where I will visit the city twice a year over the next decade to document the resurgence. This is a baseline that will tell us where it has been. Indeed, a number of these places no longer exist, as the city works its way back.

These images are scans of prints created through the Bromoil process, a labor intensive, time consuming procedure where the silver is removed from a traditionally created darkroom print and replaced with lithographic ink by striking its surface with a stiff, ink charged brush. It adds an ethereal atmosphere to the scene, allowing the viewer to enter and understand the image on their own.

a) The Birdbath in My Garden:
Photographed with a medium format 4x5, wide angle pinhole camera.
I took it using b&w film. I've printed it using a hybrid process, a Pictorico OHP
transparency generated from an Epson 2200 internegative, and then a Van Dyke.
The negative has also been scanned, and digitally printed using fine art paper.
It was captured several years ago while my wife and I lived in Southern California.
No need to explain anything about it further.

b) Cat and Her Shadow, Istanbul, Turkey 2007:
Captured with a Nikon D2X while on a trip to Istanbul in 2007 using a good
14 mm Nikkor 2.8 lens. The lens accentuated the the s-curve of the feral cat and her discovered shadow
while she was cradled in the the arc of the cobblestones. (I assume it was a "she," but I have
no way of knowing.)

It was shot in RAW color and brought to b&w through manipulation of the channels.
I then digitally sepia toned it. As usual for me, it would be printed on flat, natural rag.

I sometimes photograph animals when they reveal a certain intelligence, a certain awareness in the moment that I'm fortunate enough to capture. Animals, however, are not a subject that I gravitate to often, just when I see what I just described. I'm very interested in saying things simply with my photos, but I hope what I aim to say with an image isn't that simple.
www.petergorwin.com

Saturday, September 7, 2013

The lone tree by the lake is a subject I've returned to in different seasons and times of day. This was taken at sunrise. The rood in the field with sunlight was pure serendipity. I had also photographed the cross before, but without much drama or interest. As I passed this field one morning, though, the fog, the sun, and the cross composed themselves for me, and I merely had to press the shutter! For more of my work, you may visit www.johnvossphotography.blogspot.com.

It's not a website with selected images, but rather an ongoing presentation of images more or less when I make them.

Country Churches, is autobiographical project and exploring rural churches was ingrained in me from growing up the son of a country preacher. Never seeing eye-to-eye with my father’s orthodoxy, I did discover in the quiet simplicity of these churches a truer meaning of faith.

Rambling through the back roads of the rural south brought up feelings I had not expected. There is something special about these church buildings—they have a sense of community and comfort in their architectures that grounds the soul in the common sense that went into their construction.

I try to capture the universal “Us” in everyday situations, connecting the viewer to our shared experiences. I believe our environment shapes us as much as we shape our surroundings and I want my images to celebrate the common characteristics of places and people and how they all fit together.”

Almost every morning and evening I take our dogs out for their walks. It had been raining in the night and I was looking for something to photograph that would show the after effects of the rain. I was struck by this leaf and the way the water droplets were arranged large and small. I converted the color raw image to black and white.

1) Have patience, LinkedIn only allows me to email this group once a week to make a new announcement to all the membership. I will try to post 2-3 photographers a week, over a weekend in the order they come to me. Yours may be # 75…. don't get upset if it takes a while to see your work.

2) This isn't a contest. We all come from different walks in photography sharing the same interest and love.

CAUTION :NUDES…..I am no prude but the blog is open for the public to view and it does have a certain criteria. We can argue all about the morals, religion, justice, what the Pope and aunt Hida thinks in the Group but the blog is different and not the right place for me to challenge rules. Let' s not start a march on the establishment. There are fine art nudes,studies and then naked pictures. You can make your artist statement or info with a link to where they are ON YOUR SITE… fair enough for this subject only.

AWARNESS:

Any image on any site can be copied, but at a low res how far can you go with it? If you're that concerned, keep them home. Neither I nor Blogspot will be held liable for some nerd who wants to make a screen saver, or show it in his book report . If you have a unique way of protection let us all know, please.

COMMENTS:Know and accept that comments good and bad can be made by others, maybe even by outside persons who read this blog. This blog is public, the Group is not.Let's discuss the work but not go for a dissertation. Try to keep comments brief and to the point. A few words or sentences can do it best. You can add more thought in another comment.

Please spare us all from a simple "Like" as a comment. That serves nothing. Mom "likes " what I do… so what…Tell us why you like it or not, how you see it, how you relate to it, how you feel about it . Point out something that might open our eyes and bring an image to another level might not be standing on. Make good constructive comments.

Making a good comment is not as easy as you think , be understanding of those who try, realize photographers are better visuals than wordsmiths. We're interested in what you say, just be considerate on how you say it.

If you don't expect comments, don't send material. Refer to the person in your comment and his image.There may be more than one photographer in a post. Questions may be asked about the work or technique, however some techniques may not necessarily be divulged, the photographer's call . Stay on topic. Talk about their work not yours. Any critique should be solely on the work not the person.

Don't defend your work by answering a comment you don't agree with… "..I couldn't stand in a better place…it was raining that day…I didn't have enough time, my wife wanting to go shopping.." Better to say, " I chose to make it dark for a more somber feeling" not "Push the brightness button on your monitor dummy.."

Being passionate is fine but keep it civil and professional . There's a difference between " Joe I think your shadows are murky, punch up the black " and Joe that looks like crap, my grandmother shoots better than that " Remember your comment is solely your opinion even if it's based on all the diplomas, ribbons and awards you received. Critics were wrong about VanGogh and so were the buyers.

Do not send any commercial ventures, offers, sales, recruitment, subscriptions etc. of any kind, no take my course, join my expedition or Buy My Prints crap. You can post that in the group under Promotions.

One last thing… let's not argue, let's share, learn, enjoy each other's company and move forward.